Buddha Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Boulder

"It's the best Chinese food I've had in Boulder so far."

I am of half Thai descent (แม่ผมเป็นคนไทย) and I lived in Bangkok for three years, so I was excited to find a popular Thai restaurant near me.

I ordered the pad phet (ผัดเผ็ด) which is traditionally a protein stir fried with red chilli curry paste and a bit of sugar. Maybe you'll find basil or keyfir leaves for a little twist.

Instead I got a vegetable stir fry with a little bit of pork in a sweetened soy sauce gravy. It had a bit of umami flavor to it like msg (which I don't mind personally). It was good and I enjoyed it!

But I didn't find the unique flavor Bonanza that you would in the streets of Bangkok or the time tested traditions of my mother's cooking. I didn't even find a close approximation of that, instead I found a safe variation of the classic American style Chinese cuisine most of us are familiar with.

My feedback would be that the Buddha Cafe, should consider making home made chili pastes, and experiment with more authentic cooking practices. I think they'd find better flavor profiles, achieve greater authenticity, and even find an opportunity to infuse flavors they like into...

Bizarre food. They fail on the most basic execution: rice is so overcooked it’s mush, and the tapioca coconut milk dessert is again so overcooked that the tapioca is one giant ball of mush rather than individual tapioca pearls.

Also don’t get food here expecting authentic Thai. It’s more Thai inspired with many of the dishes watered down in terms of flavor. The laab salad and drunken noodles were the most inauthentic preparations I have ever eaten and I’ve had these dishes hundreds of times all over the world because they are two of my comfort faves. Their laab uses chopped up meat instead of ground, and instead of the authentic mint, shallot, and toasted rice incorporation, they mix in iceberg lettuce and cucumber. The drunken noodle sauce is ketchupy, and lacks any kind of Thai basil herb note which is key to the dish.

Only saving grace is the green curry, which albeit too sweet, was generous in portion for a delivery order, and had a nice spicy kick to it...

I really want to give Buddha Thai five stars but in the past year, not one of my orders has been correct. The food is amazing and I've been eating here for almost 3 years now. It seems like their takeout business really took off during the pandemic but not in a sustainable way. The wait time for a pickup up order is consistently 30min to an hour longer than the website projects. I wouldn't mind the wait if it were at least accurate. When my order is finally ready, it's obvious they rushed while making it. Main ingredients are often missing, the vegetables are giant and need to be chopped way more. I've found vegetables rinds in quite a few orders. At one point, I had family visiting so I ordered Buddha Thai, hoping to share a favorite, but they switched a meat entree with one of ours so my vegetarian family members did not get to try it. I hate to say it but I don't think I'll...